Vientiane Throne of Civilization

Chapter 1777 The Return Journey
"After that, I will bring Boraiven back here. If the dragons on the other side show up, Boraiven will not be able to confront them head-on, but it will be good for him to stay on the island and control the restrictions. If the dragons on the other side do not show up, then Boraiven's combat power can be fully utilized."

In the brief exchange just now, Zhou Xu had basically confirmed that the sea race army was not entirely composed of dragons.

Strictly speaking, the dragon race, led by the North Sea Dragon King, should be positioned similarly to the king of the sea races, with various sea races under its command.

Bolaiven is only unable to contend with the dragon race due to his bloodline. If he were with other sea creatures, his combat strength at the Saint Realm would still be quite considerable.

Bai Tu also expressed his agreement with this.

The main reason was that the black dragon's protection gave them a significant boost in confidence.

After explaining everything, Zhou Xu didn't linger and left by boat that same day.

After all, they've been away for quite a while now. In recent years, their Great Zhou territory has been expanding continuously, and various regions need to be developed, so there's a lot of daily government affairs to handle.

This trip alone took a month and a half in the Barton Islands. Considering the time spent traveling back and forth, and the work that piled up during that time, Zhou Xuguang's head started to ache just thinking about it.

Meanwhile, Zhou Xu was indeed somewhat concerned about the situation in the desert.

Although the desert force that appeared only showed up once and hasn't shown its face since, we still can't let our guard down.

It was precisely because he came to the Barton Islands to repair the restrictions and personally witnessed the power of such a large-scale restriction that he understood how great the home-field advantage was for a force with such restrictions.

Whether it's the desert or the Barton Islands, I just hope that both sides can keep to themselves and develop peacefully.

At the same time, in a certain sea area outside the territorial waters of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Ao Ze slowly woke up with a painful groan.

Before he could even open his eyes, the excruciating pain that coursed through his entire body made him wince. It took him a while to finally sit up, and at the same time, he subconsciously looked down at his body.

The scales on his body were completely shattered. Ao Ze was shocked and quickly tore open his clothes, pulling out a palm-sized dragon scale from his chest.

This is the protective scale given to him by his father; it is a treasure passed down through generations of the North Sea Dragon Clan.

Throughout the history of the North Sea Dragon Clan, every dragon prince wore a protective scale to ensure his safety in critical moments.

At this moment, the protective scale was covered with cracks and had lost its luster.

Looking at the shattered heart-protecting scale, the majestic black dragon, and the terrifying breath attack, those scenes flashed rapidly through Ao Ze's mind.

Clearly, this protective scale has completed its mission.

While still feeling lingering fear, Ao Ze couldn't help but feel a surge of relief at surviving such a close call.

Wait a minute. Where's General Iron Claw?

He remembered the situation at the time; General Tie'ao pulled him behind him to protect him immediately.

Thinking of this, Ao Ze's heart sank.

With his own protective scales shattered under the protection of General Iron Claw, is there any chance that General Iron Claw will survive?

But having not found a body, Ao Ze still held onto a sliver of hope.

Driven by a "I want to see him alive or dead" mentality, Ao Ze dragged his nearly broken body and began searching the nearby sea.

[When we were attacked, I was with General Iron Claw, so he shouldn't be too far away from us now.]

The thought flashed through his mind, and then a figure came into view, causing Ao Ze's pupils to shrink.

In the distance, a burly figure lay quietly in the sea.

Ao Ze approached and confirmed that the creature was long dead. Iron Claw General's prized iron claws and carapace were completely shattered, and its entire body was unrecognizable. "Iron Claw General..."

Looking at the Iron Claw General, who was practically dead beyond recognition, Ao Ze couldn't hide his grief, but he couldn't muster even a shred of courage to fight back.

The terrifying image of the black dragon continued to linger in his mind, causing Ao Ze to look terrified. At the same time, it made him realize that this matter was no longer something he could handle.

Now that things have come to this, the only option is to return to the North Sea Dragon Palace and ask his father to make a decision.

While both were embarking on their return journey, Zhou Xu was much more relaxed compared to Ao Ze's grief.

After the ship left the waters of the Barton Islands, Zhou Xu began to absorb the natural energy of the surrounding waters without any hesitation, accelerating the recovery of his magical power.

Any surplus afterwards will be used for the research and practice of mantras.

Time flies when you're doing research.

After traveling by boat and then by train, Zhou Xu quickly and smoothly returned to Black Moon City.

After traveling by boat and train for so long, Zhou Xu was quite tired. When he returned to the palace, he was too lazy to even eat. He collapsed onto the bed and decided to take a long nap first.

There must be a lot of work piling up inside the Hall of Diligent Governance, but nothing major should have happened, otherwise someone would have come to report it as soon as I returned to the palace.

Knowing this, Zhou Xu slept relatively soundly.

The next day, unsurprisingly, he overslept and woke up at noon.

He arrived at the Hall of Diligent Governance with mixed feelings. It was like someone who had been on a long vacation for several months suddenly returning to work, but hadn't adjusted back to his old ways yet. He felt a bit awkward and wasn't used to it for a while.

The moment Zhou Xu stepped into the Hall of Diligent Governance, Charman's gaze fell upon him.

Feeling the resentful gaze from his 'Imperial Regent', Zhou Xu couldn't help but let out two dry laughs...

"Isn't it lunchtime now? Charman, why aren't you resting?"

"Why do you think I'm not resting, Your Majesty?"

Over the years, Charman has undoubtedly become very familiar with Zhou Xu, and he has lost his initial awkwardness in private.

"Hahaha"

With a dry laugh, Zhou Xu abruptly changed the subject.

"Get to work, get to work."

As Zhou Xu spoke, he walked to his desk and sat down.

The documents awaiting his review had already piled up in several stacks, and that wasn't all; there were also three trolleys specifically for storing documents nearby.

These files were not placed randomly.

Generally, items piled directly on the table have the highest priority, while the priority of the three carts next to them decreases from near to far.

Seeing Zhou Xu laughing and getting into work mode, Charman didn't say anything more.

At the same time, he breathed a sigh of relief. Their emperor was back, which meant that at least half of the workload in the Diligent Governance Hall could be distributed, and he could finally relax a little.

(End of this chapter)